Absalom and Achitophel

"In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin, Before polygamy was made a sin."

"Then Israel's monarch after heaven's own heart, His vigorous warmth did variously impart To wives and slaves; and, wide as his command, Scattered his Maker's image through the land."

"Of all the numerous progeny was none So beautiful, so brave, as Absalon; Whether inspired by by some diviner lust, His father got him with a greater gust; Or that his conscious destiny made way, By manly beauty, to imperial sway."

"Whate'er he did, was done with so much ease, In him alone 'twas natural to please."

"His motions all accompanied with grace, And paradise was opened in his face."

"What faults he had,—for who from faults is free? His father could not, or he would not see."

"The Jews, a headstrong, moody, murmuring race."

"But when to sin our biassed nature leans, The careful devil is still at hand with means, And providently pimps for ill desires; The good old cause, revived, a plot requires."

"Plots, true or false, are necessary things, To raise up commonwealths, and ruin kings."

"Some truth there was, but dashed and brewed with lies, To please the fools, and puzzle all the wise."

"Fools are more hard to conquer than persuade."

"Of these the false Achitophel was first; A name to all succeeding ages curst: For close designs, and crooked counsels fit; Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit; Restless, unfixed in principles and place; In power unpleased, impatient of disgrace."

"A fiery soul, which, working out its way, Fretted the pigmy-body to decay, And o'er-informed the tenement of clay."

"A daring pilot in extremity; Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high He sought the storms; but, for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands, to boast his wit."

"Great wits are sure to madness near allied, And thin partitions do their bounds divide; Else, why should he, with wealth and honour blest, Refuse his age the needful hours of rest?"

"Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of ease."

"And all to leave what with his toil he won, To that unfeathered two-legged thing, a son."

"In friendship false, implacable in hate; Resolved to ruin, or to rule the state."

"So easy still it proves in factious times, With public zeal to cancel private crimes."

"How safe is treason, and how sacred ill, Where none can sin against the people's will? Where crowds can wink, and no offence be known, Since in another's guilt they find their own?"

"And heaven had wanted one immortal song. But wild ambition loves to slide, not stand, And fortune's ice prefers to virtue's land."

"He stood at bold defiance with his prince; Held up the buckler of the people's cause Against the crown, and skulked behind the laws."

"For politicians neither love nor hate."

"Auspicious prince, at whose nativity Some royal planet ruled the southern sky; Thy longing country's darling and desire; Their cloudy pillar and their guardian fire; Their second Moses, whose extended wand Divides the seas, and shews the promised land; Whose dawning day, in every distant age, Has exercised the sacred prophet's rage; The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme, The young men's vision, and the old men's dream!"

"Behold him setting in his western skies, The shadows lengthening as the vapours rise."

"And nobler is a limited command, Given by the love of all your native land, Than a successive title, long and dark, Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah's ark."

"What cannot praise effect in mighty minds, When flattery sooths, and when ambition blinds?"

"Desire of power, on earth a vicious weed, Yet, sprung from high, is of celestial seed; In God 'tis glory; and when men aspire, 'Tis but a spark too much of heavenly fire."

"His courage foes, his friends his truth proclaim."

"The people have a right supreme To make their kings; for kings are made for them."

"All empire is no more than power in trust."

"Better one suffer than a nation grieve."

"Nor let his love enchant your generous mind; 'Tis nature's trick to propagate her kind. Our fond begetters, who would never die, Love but themselves in their posterity."

"Your case no tame expedients will afford; Resolve on death, or conquest by the sword, Which for no less a stake than life you draw; And self-defence is nature's eldest law."

"Not only hating David, but the king."

"But far more numerous was the herd of such, Who think too little, and who talk too much."

"A man so various, that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome; Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong, Was every thing by starts, and nothing long; But, in the course of one revolving moon, Was chemist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon."

"Railing and praising were his usual themes; And both, to shew his judgment, in extremes; So over violent, or over civil, That every man with him was God or devil."

"In squandering wealth was his peculiar art; Nothing went unrewarded but desert. Beggared by fools, whom still he found too late; He had his jest, and they had his estate."

"His tribe were God Almighty's gentlemen."

"Youth, beauty, graceful action seldom fail; But common interest always will prevail; And pity never ceases to be shown To him who makes the people's wrongs his own."

"Thus in a pageant-shew a plot is made; And peace itself is war in masquerade."

"For who can be secure of private right, If sovereign sway may be dissolved by might? Nor is the people's judgment always true: The most may err as grossly as the few."

"If they may give and take whene'er they please, Not kings alone, the Godhead's images, But government itself, at length must fall To nature's state, where all have right to all."

"Yet, grant our lords, the people, kings can make, What prudent men a settled throne would shake? For whatsoe'er their sufferings were before, That change they covet makes them suffer more. All other errors but disturb a state; But innovation is the blow of fate. If ancient fabrics nod, and threat to fall, To patch their flaws, and buttress up the wall, Thus far 'tis duty: but here fix the mark; For all beyond it is to touch the ark. To change foundations, cast the frame anew, Is work for rebels, who base ends pursue; At once divine and human laws controul, And mend the parts by ruin of the whole."

"For whatsoe'er their sufferings were before, That change they covet makes them suffer more. All other errors but disturb a state; But innovation is the blow of fate."

"The court he practised, not the courtier's art: Large was his wealth, but larger was his heart."

"Swift was the race, but short the time to run."

"Him of the western dome, whose weighty sense Flows in fit words, and heavenly eloquence."

"Of ancient race by birth, but nobler yet In his own worth."